The Our Town - Clarenville Blog by Paul Tilley

You've got to wonder - Why are some many towns having such trouble attracting a competitive slate of candidates for this coming September's municipal elections? This question has always been in the back of my mind - but on Tuesday, at the conclusion of the Clarenville municipal election nomination period, it came full frontal. Despite the fact that we have an excellent slate of new Councillors (I hope I am near as good as the rest), I was floored when I found out that Clarenville; the 12th largest town in the province - a town that has always had a competitive slate, and frankly, a town with many, many "engaged" citizens - would not have to hold an election because only seven names were put forward for the seven available seats (Clarenville normally holds a separate ballot for the single mayoral seat and for the six council positions). Wow! There are many potential reasons for why this could have happened.  Poor timing,  lack of interest,...

Co-contributer Paul Tilley wrote an excellent posting about the issue of the Clarenville Fire Department providing fire protection services to the Local Service District (LSD) of Milton/George's Brook. I didn't think there was much to add to the topic until I read this week's Packet . The story doesn't seem to be posted on the website, however, the article is about the request of the LSD for a tanker truck from the provincial government. The LSD had requested that Clarenville Fire Department provide them with services and one of the conditions was a tanker truck to be stationed in the area to ensure adequate water supply. The Minister responsible indicates that should Clarenville become the regional fire department, an analysis would then have to be completed to determine the necessary resources required.  Fair enough. What caught my eye, however, was the last few paragraphs. The article indicates that "while the final decision to negotiate comes down to council...